Building construction



May 13, 1941. J. E. TOURTELLOTTE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed July 5, 19254 INVENTOR S y .mx w. um 1 TTORNEY May 13, 1941.

J. E. TOURTELLOTTE BUILDING CONSTRUCTION Filed July 3, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 B51: Lwmc. 'Raam Boom 16 DED Room Room Lwme iLevA'roxL Conzxvon.

ATTORNEY ,al c ma.

lPatented Ma BUILDING CONSTRUCTION John E. Tourtellotte, Portland, Oreg.; Della W.

Tourtellotte, executrix of said John E. Tourtellotte, deceased, assignor to herself Application July 3, 1934, Serial N0. 733,589

12 Claims.

This invention relates to building structures and apartment dwellings in particular, the object being to provide an improved building and method of erecting the same especially adapting it for construction along the natural slope of. hillside property without the necessity of considerable excavating, cutting and lling to provide a level site upon which to construct such a building.

In the mountainous and hilly regions of this country, there are many sections of its cities wherein it is impossible to utilize the steep hillsides for building purposes due to the enormous expense incidental to the necessary excavating and blasting in preparing foundations for such buildings in that much time and labor as well as material are required in order to carry the retaining walls to below the level of the street at the base of the hill.

The side of a hill or mountain has, through the centuries, reached an angle of repose natural to the formation of same. Where this natural slope or angle of repose is disturbed or changed, it becomes necessary to build heavy retaining walls and drainage pipes to support and drain the changed contours, level or semi-level terraces, with plumb or battered retaining walls to keep the formation stable in revised contours, suitable to carry buildings, yards and streets, since the possibility of slides, in the event of unusually heavy storms makes these ordinary hillside developments hazardous to a considerable extent.

Habitations constructed in the usual manner along hillsides have one exposure with a splendid outlook, depending upon the scenery of the country opposite, but the other view toward the steep slope of. the hill, is constricted because of its proximity to the slope, and therefore, results in one-half of the habitable rooms being undesirable from the point of outlook and also, oftentimes, dull and gloomy. Further, for one side of the building and for several of the lower stories, the rooms opposite' the principal frontage have no open air frontage and hence have little value. Thus, the half toward the hillside is undesirable and this percentage being so great, makes the total cost a poor investment.

In many instances, the business sections of such cities have extended to and beyond the hillside property and there has arisen an economic necessity for reclaiming such close-in undeveloped waste land and this invention accomplishes the desired result.

Moreover, it has been impractical heretofore, if not impossible to erect buildings the full height of. the hillside without the provision of intermediate level surfaces but by means of the present improvement, I am able to utilize the naturall slope of the hillside to erect a building the full height of such hillside without the necessity of providing such level surfaces and in which all of the' bearing walls may be of substantially the same height and none of the main walls any higher than another, whereby the contour of the hillside is not changed but merely cut into sufliciently to support the foundations.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of a habitation providing all the advantages of both the isolated dwelling and the apartment and which gives superior accommodations at a cost well within the reach of. the average family since, as is Well known, a building of but several stories in height is the most simple and at the same time inexpensive of habitations to construct.

In a structure such as shown, no bearing wall ofthe main portion of the building will usually exceed, for instance, three stories in height and yet the building may extend from the base to the top of the hillside and consist, for example, of ten stories more or less with the tops of all the walls paralleling the slope of the hillside.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of an improved building whereby the undesirable feature present in so many apartment dwellings of. a poor outlook because of close proximity of other buildings, etc., is also eliminated since the present construction permits a setback arrangement of the apartments providing the maximum of light and space in each instance, the habitable rooms, that is, the living and bedrooms being at the front having a pleasant outlook, depending of course, upon the scenery of. the property opposite while the rear of the apartment paralleling the hillside is utilized for the corridor, storage, service rooms, bath, etc.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a construction whereby the roof of each succeeding apartment is utilized as a terrace, garden or recreation space, the upper portion of each bearing wall forming a protecting wall at the front of each such terrace, and whereby the roof of the top apartments may be used for a general playground or roof garden while the lower or first tier is particularly well adapted for garage and storage space.

This improved structure contemplates, as stated, conforming or fitting the building to the natural slope of the hillside, leaving the angle of repose with the natural sub-soll drainage practically undisturbed. The foundation Walls and footings will be set near surface on level beds, thus requiring a minimum excavation into the surface..

The-entrance to this multiple apartment building, as will be noted, is from the level ground at the base of the hill, with a corridor extending back to the elevator shaft and stair' well, thus eliminating the construction of grades, streets, retaining walls, drainage pipe lines, etc., which goes with the usual procedure in developing hillside properties for homes.

Thus, I provide a construction whereby all the living rooms, that is, bed rooms, dining rooms, sitting rooms, face in the opposite direction from the surface of the hillside, onto a terrace, yard or garden, supported by the roof of the apartment on the level below, with a wide View out over the tops of the buildings in the valley below, with the non-living rooms, such as closets, bathrooms, storage rooms back of the living rooms and between the same and the corridor, which corridor is located against the hillside paralleling the same and being intercepted in the center with a corridor which extends at right angles to the direction of same and connects it with the stairs and elevators.

These corridors extend parallel with the hillside and open out onto the surface of the ground at either end of the building. thus forming grade entrances for each and every story. Outside steps and landings at either end of the buildings give easy access from each story or level to the walk leading to the street level below or up to the playground supported by the roof of the toprnost tier of apartments. Further, in addition to all waste space in the lower part of the building on the hill side of the corridor being eliminated, lire escapes are done away with since, as just described, every story has a groundlevel entrance or exits at both ends of the building, this being made possible by the arrangement of the corridors which are not plumb one above the other, as in ordinary buildings, but offset on an angle approximately equalling the slope of the hill and thus each corridor rests partially on the natural ground throughout its length and at the ends on a level with the landing, said outside landing being supported on the natural earth.

It will also' be noted that the top corner of the outside wall of each level or story, for all stories for the entire height of the building, are equidistant from the surface of the natural slope of the hillside.

Thus, in the construction of the improved building illustrated, although it is ten stories in height, the main bearing walls in all instances forming the apartments are but three stories in height with the tops thereof parallel with the slope of the hillside. In certain constructions, of course, the height of the walls would vary. For instance, in some buildings, the walls could be two or four stories in height,

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Fig. 1 is a perspective view illustrating this improved building as of ten stories in height.

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view thereof taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal cross section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Before explaining in detail the present improvement and mode of operation thereof, I desire to have it understood that the invention is not limited to the details of construction and arrangement of parts illustrated in the accompanying drawings since the invention is capable of other embodiments and that the phraseology which I employ is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

This improved building is made up of a series of stepped back apartments I to I0 and each row or tier may comprise a number of apartments on the same level, each apartment, of course, to be divided into a bedroom, living room, etc., or in any suitable way t0 have the desired number of rooms. 'I'here may be as many apartments in each tier as the width of the lot to be built upon will permit, this, of course, depending upon the size of the several apartments and the lower tier I may be constructed to form garages, if preferred.

Each bearing wall I I forming the main or rear wall of one tier of apartments, forms the dividing wall or partition between the front and rear of the next higher apartment as 3 and the front wall of the next succeeding apartment as 4, the wall being carried suiciently far up to form a parapet as at I2, providing a terrace I4 for the apartment 4.

In other words, the roof I3 covering the front portion of each apartment provides a garden or terrace for the next higher apartment and the bearing wall serves as a partition between the living rooms shown at I6 and the non-living rooms shown at I1.

Thus, it will be seen that the base or first unit I rests entirely upon the ground, this being the only unit where this is necessary, all the others having their rear only resting on the hillside and by this arrangement, the foundations I 8 of these Walls are parallel with the slope so that the successive foundations require the hillside to be excavated only sufciently to support such foundations.

The corridors 20 formed by the partitions I9 therebetween and the non-living rooms I'I extend along the rear of each row of apartments, one corridor above another but offset or stepped back. These corridors communicate with a cross corridor 2I which may be located centrally of the building if preferred and the corridor 2| leads to an elevator shaft or stair well 22 which extends from the base to the top of the building, this well in turn communicating at its base with a corridor 23 leading to the front of the building for egress and ingress of the users.

This shaft or well may be in the form of a tower and is the only part of the building extending from the base to the top of the hill. Thus, each row of apartments has its own corridor at the rear thereof in communication with a cross corridor in turn communicating with the elevator shaft and stair well 22, the cross corridor 2l dividing one set of apartments from another on the same row. Each of these rear corridors 20 opens at one or both ends onto the surface of the ground, a suitable walk being provided, thus forming grade entrances for cach story and these walks 23' or steps and landings lead to the street level below and also to the playground 24, suitable landings and steps being provided to the corridors where necessary. The playground 24 is formed by the roof of the topmost row or tier of apartments and from which an entrance may be had to the top of the buildipng flrom the top of the hillside as shown in 'I'he living quarters are shown as the usual bedroom, living room and dinette or breakfast nook at the front opening onto the terrace while the leihem bath, dressing room, entry and stores, etc., adjoin the corridor 20 at the rear of the apartment. However, this plan or layout is merely for illustration as each apartment may be variously divided according to its size and the size of the building.

Therefore, in the present improvement, as hereinbefore stated, although the building is shown as a structure of ten stories in height, it will be observed that the main bearing walls are but three stories in height so that each is materially less than the total height of the building and, in erecting this building, the front wall of each story is proportioned in height at the proper ratio as to the length of the living room so that the tops of all the front walls for all stories are equiclistant from the slope of the hill and, hence, parallel the slope of the hill.

This construction necessitates that the hill be cut into only sufficiently to give level bearings for the footings so that, as mentioned, even though the building be ten or more stories in height, it is only necessary to provide footings that will support a wall or column three stories in height, for instance, with the result that the main porion of the building follows the general contour of the slope of the hill at the bottom and top thereof.

The top of each wall paralleling the slope of the hillside forms a railing for the roof of the preceding apartment, thus forming a terrace which may be used as a garden on the same level as the apartment in front of which it extends, consequently giving all the living rooms which face these gardens or terraces a wide, uninterrupted and pleasant outlook.

As hereinbefore set forth, the several tiers of living rooms are not plumb, one above the other, but offset or set back in the direction of the slope of the hill following the general direction of such slope and theA corridors at the rear of each row of apartments paralleling the hillside are likewise not plumb, but offset or stepped back and are in communication with a cross corridor leading to the elevator shaft and stair well for the entire building and as a result, these cross corridors because of the set back arrangement are of different lengths throughout the height of the building.

From the foregoing, it will be observed that the main mass of the building follows the slope of the hillside instead of extending up plumb so that it is possible to erect a structure ten to fifteen or twenty stories in height with the foundaions, bearing walls and columns no larger than required for a three-story building erected in the ordinary manner. In fact a low building but two stories in height, if on a hillside, could be constructed in this manner at a considerable saving in cost.

The term bearing wall as used herein, is intended to include any suitable form of vertical support and may be in the form of columns or girders with or without curtain walls therebetween.

In practice, of course, any arrangement of stair cases and elevator towers could be utilized without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. For instance, the elevator shafts and stair cases could be constructed on an incline parallel to the slope of the hillside, thus saving in the length of the cross corridors, or

VLIHIVII one elevator and staircase could run half way of the building and another from there on to the top of the building. In short, various arrangements of these details could be readily made as circumstances required.

It is to be understood that, by describing in detail herein any particular form, structure or arrangement, it is not intended to limit the invention beyond the terms of the several claims or the requirements of the prior art, and that the building does not necessarily have to have the design shown herein since the present irnprovement may be used in connection with various designs and plans of buildings and various lay-outs and plans of apartments so long as the basic principle of the improvement is utilized.

Having thus explained the nature of my said invention and described a way of constructing and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms in which it may be made or all of the modes of its use, I claim:

1. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows with a main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof, all of its main bearing walls materially less than the total height of the building, said building stepped depthwise and, therefore, extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all the rooms thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

2. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows with a main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof and none the height of the building, each row having a wall forming the front wall of a higher row, said building stepped depthwise and, therefore, extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all the rooms thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

3. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows, each row having a rear main bearing wall forming a dividing wall of a higher row between the front and rear thereof and a front wall of a still higher row and none theheight of the building, said building stepped depthwise and, therefore, extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all the rooms thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill and also having a rear entrance at the top thereof from the top of the hillside.

4. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows with a main bearing-*wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof and none the height of the building, each row having a common corridor in the rear thereof, said building stepped depthwise and, therefore, extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all the rooms thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

5. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows with a main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof and none the height of the building, each row having a common corridor in the rear thereof, each corridor opening at one or both ends to the surface of the hillside and communicating with a cross corridor, said building step-pcd depthwise and, therefore, extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all the rooms thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

6. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows with a main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof and none the height of the building, each row having a common corridor in the rear thereof, each corridor opening at one or both ends to the surface of the hillside and communicating with a cross corridor, and all of the cross corridors communicating with a stair well and elevator shaft, said building stepped depthwise and, therefore, extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all of the rooms `thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

7. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows with a main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof and none the height of the building, each row having a common corridor in 'the rear thereof, each corridor opening at one or both ends to the surface of the hillside and communicating with a cross corridor, and all of the cross corridors communicating with a stair well and elevator shaft common to all of the rows, said shaft and stairwell communicating at its base with a corridor for ingress to and egress from the building, said building stepped depthwise and, therefor, extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all the rooms thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from; over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

8. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows with a main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof and none the height of the building, each row comprising a continuous row of apartments all on the same level between the outermost ends of the building, said building stepped depthwise and, therefore, extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all the rooms thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

9. That step in the method of erecting a building having the base of each side wall conforming to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a. plurality of set back rows of apartments arranged in depthwise stepped formation corresponding to the natural slope of the hillside, the roof of a lower apartment forming a terrace for the upper apartment in front thereof, which consists in providing the several rows of apartments with main bearing walls stepped one above another by excavating the hillside to form suflicient levels only for the foundations of the main bearing walls, then erecting a series of such walls, none the full height of the building with a main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof, and providing each row with a common corridor to all of the apartments of the row and also with a cross corridor and providing the cross corridors with a stair well or eievator shaft common to all the cross corridors of the building, each of said rear corridors opening at its end to the slope of the hillside, the bearing wall of a lower row forming a dividing wall of the next succeeding row and the front wall of the next succeeding row whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

l0. That step in the method of erecting a building having the base of each side wall conforming to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of setback rows of apartments arranged in depthwise stepped formation corresponding to the natural slope of the hillside, which consists in excavating the hillside to form suflcient levels only for the foundations of the main bearing walls, then erecting a series of such walls, none the full height of the building, a main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof, the bearing wall of a lower row forming the dividing wall of the next succeeding row and the front wall of the next succeeding row whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entraneejrom the level ground at the base of the hill.

l1. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hill slope and comprising a plurality of set back. rows, each row having a pair of main bearing walls, one in front of the other and one forming the rear wall of each row, each of said main bearing walls directly under and supporting a higher row between the front and rear thereof and each also forming the front wall of a still higher row, with none of the bearing walls the full height of such building from the bottom to the top thereof, said building stepped depthwise and, therefore, ex tending transversely of the slope of the hillside with all the rooms thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main DLAHUH entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

12. A building erected to have the base of each side wall conform to the natural slope of the hillside supporting it whereby they are sloped upwardly depthwise of the building, thereby avoiding changing the natural formation of the hillside, and comprising a plurality of superimposed rows having rear main bearing walls supported by footings stepped upward to conform to the slope of said hillside, thereby avoiding the excavation of the hillside except for such footings, said rear main bearing wall of each row directly under and supporting the next higher row between the front and rear thereof. .said building extending transversely of the slope of the hillside with the front thereof facing opposite to the hillside whereby each successive row receives its daylight from over the front projecting roof of a lower row, said building having its main entrance from the level ground at the base of the hill.

JOHN E. TOUR'I'EILOTIE. 

